Professional activity

Student name

Institution affiliation

Due date
Registered nurse

Nurse practitioner,

Physician assistant

1. What education/experience is required for this profession?

One of the professionals in the healthcare system is the registered nurse. The level of education

for a registered nurse is an Associate degree in nursing (ADN) (Ahlstedt et al., 2019). This helps

the aspiring register nurse candidate to obtain the standardized National Licensure examination

which s often referred to as NCLEX-RN. When a candidate passes the NCLEX-RN examination,

the candidate qualifies to be a registered nurse on the other hand, to be a nurse practitioner one

has to be a registered nurse first. In addition, the candidate must hold a Bachelor of Science in

Nursing (BSN). A registered nurse must complete a Nurse practitioner graduate masters or a

doctorate in nursing. Similarly, a physician assistant must have a master’s degree and have patent

care experience. After graduating with the master’s degree, the candidates aspiring physician

assistants sit for the Physician assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) and should

pass this examination (Cawley and Hooker, 2018). Besides, the aspiring physician assistant must

meet the state-specific requirements required to be licensed to practice the role of physician

assistant.

2. What is the average salary for this position?

Based on the 2020 statistics, the average salary of a physician assistant is approximately

$115,390. The registered nurse's mean salary is $93,590, while the average monthly salary of a

nurse practitioner is $8,161.

3. What is the primary goal of this profession? What is the importance of this profession on

the healthcare system?

In the healthcare system, the different professions have different primary goals. The primary of

the registered nurse is to ensure that all patients receive quality and timely care and treatment

(Ahlstedt et al., 2019). The primary role of a nurse practitioner is to provide both acute and

primary care to patients across healthcare in general. This includes assessing the patient's health

conditions and treating the patient. In addition, a nurse practitioner helps educate the patients on

disease presentation. On the other hand, the primary role of a physician assistant is to collaborate

with other healthcare professionals to provide patient-centered care comprised of compassion

and respectful behaviors while interacting with diverse patients and their families (Cawley and

Hooker, 2018).

4. How might this profession interact with your desired future profession? Be sure to

identify your future desired profession in the discussion.

I desire to be a physician assistant in the future. In the healthcare system, through

interprofessional collaboration, I will work closely with the registered nurses and the patients to

ensure that all the patients are given timely and quality care (Ahlstedt et al., 2019). Similarly, as

a physician practitioner, I will collaborate with the nurse practitioners in prescribing medications,

examining the patients, ordering diagnostic tests for the test, and also help in the diagnosis of the

patient health conditions. Moreover, I will work with the nurse practitioners in monitoring the

treatments of the patients.

5. What is one interesting fact you discovered about this profession?

There are interesting effects about different health care professions. The interesting fact about the

registered nurse is that a registered nurse walks an average of 2.5 miles daily on every shift. In a
12-hour work shift, a registered nurse walks 4-5 miles. This is why registered nurses put on flat

and comfortable shoes when they are at work (Ahlstedt et al., 2019). Besides, registered nurses

are among the professionals who work ethically and adhere to all the stipulated guidelines.

Should they fail to work as expected, their actions significantly impact patient health (Furåker et

al., 2008).

In addition, registered nurses can have doctorate degrees. This can be a doctor of philosophy or a

doctorate in nursing practice (Furåker, et al., 2008). Besides, the registered are in demand

everywhere. These days can also work in different settings apart from healthcare settings. This

includes homes and home care facilities. Even in airplanes, there must be nurses, and they help

monitor patent conditions such as blood pressure and sugar levels. Moreover, they are the most

trusted profession, and most patients share their challenges with the nurses more than their

relatives.

Similarly, the interesting fact about that nurse practitioners has advanced training. Apart from

classroom work, nurse practitioners require many hours of experience (Spetz et al., 2019). In

addition, a nurse practitioner must become a registered nurse, and at the time, they must have a

minimum of a master's degree in a specialized field within nursing. Besides, nurse practitioners

are allowed to pursue doctorate degrees. As a result of the intensive training, nurse practitioners

are more responsible in their line of duty than registered nurses.

Similarly, nurse practitioners treat the whole patient. The care they offer cuts across several

aspects of healthcare, including diagnosis of the patient conditions and treating illnesses, injuries,

and chronic conditions (Nelsen et al., 2020). The nurse practitioners can practice alone since they

are licensed to practice. This is because nurse practitioners can practice fully without the

supervision of a physician (Honda et al., 2018). Unlike registered nurses, nurse practitioners can
specialize in some fields such as gerontology, neonatology, pediatrics, and mental health. They

also collaborate with other healthcare professionals in helping patients receive the care they

need.

The physician assistant is another group of professionals working in healthcare. The physician

assistants can work virtually in every medical and surgical setting. When schooling, the

physician assistants are recommended to take more than four hundred credit hours in basic

sciences (Spetz et al., 2019). In addition, 175 hours in behavioral sciences and another 580 hours

in clinical medicine. Apart from the classwork, the physicians spend 2,000 hours of clinical

rotations emphasizing primary care. In addition, they participate in physicians’ offices and long-

term care healthcare providing facilities (Honda et al., 2018).

Unlike the nurse practitioners, the physician assistant cannot operate a private facility because

they practice with physician supervision (Yang et al., 2021). The roles of the physician assistant

are regulated by the state and delegated supervisors from the state. Also, they are trained using

medical models that have different aspects such as patients' medical history, physician exams,

and diagnosis of patient conditions based on understanding the signs presented by the patient.
 References

Ahlstedt, C., Lindvall, C. E., Holmström, I. K., & Athlin, Å. M. (2019). What makes registered

nurses remain in work? An ethnographic study. International Journal of Nursing Studies,

89, 32-38.

Cawley, J. F., & Hooker, R. S. (2018). Determinants of the physician assistant/associate concept

in global health systems. Int J Healthc, 4(1), 50.

Furåker, C. (2008). Registered Nurses' views on their professional role. Journal of nursing

management, 16(8), 933-941.

Honda, T., Patel-Junankar, D., Baginski, R., & Scott, R. (2018). Admissions variables: predictors

of physician assistant student success. The Journal of Physician Assistant Education,

29(3), 167-172.

Nilsen, P., Seing, I., Ericsson, C., Birken, S. A., & Schildmeijer, K. (2020). Characteristics of

successful changes in health care organizations: an interview study with physicians,

registered nurses and assistant nurses. BMC health services research, 20(1), 1-8

Spetz, J., Toretsky, C., Chapman, S., Phoenix, B., & Tierney, M. (2019). Nurse practitioner and

physician assistant waivers to prescribe buprenorphine and state scope of practice

restrictions. Jama, 321(14), 1407-1408.

Yang, B. K., Johantgen, M. E., Trinkoff, A. M., Idzik, S. R., Wince, J., & Tomlinson, C. (2021).

State nurse practitioner practice regulations and US health care delivery outcomes: a

systematic review. Medical Care Research and Review, 78(3), 183-196.